[CPEO-MEF] PFAS: Public meeting at Webster Outlying Field, MD

[Lenny Siegel]

Navy Asserts Drinking Water is Safe Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

Press Release, St. Mary's River Watershed Association
Bay Net (MD)
March 11, 2020

Lexington Park, MD - On Tuesday March 3, 2020, the Navy held a public meeting at the local library to inform the public on the pollutants in the PFAS family of chemicals. The Navy reported that PFAS was not detected in drinking water at the sprawling Patuxent Naval Air Station. But the Navy had no information regarding testing at the adjacent facility in St. Inigoes, known locally as Webster Outlying Field. The meeting was attended by more than 275 local residents, many concerned after hearing about an open water sample taken in St. Inigoes Creek that had resulted in a laboratory report suggesting the PFAS total level there was worrisome.

"We don't know how that sample was collected and the laboratory was not certified for PFAS testing," Navy spokesperson Kyle Rambo told the Association at the March 3 meeting.

...

"Obviously we need to know more," said Association executive director Bob Lewis. "We are concerned that both the state and Navy might act to too slowly in developing protocols and making tests results public."

The Navy told attendees they were a year or more away from doing any testing at Webster Field. The state did indicate that they would fast track their planning and "likely use St. Inigoes as a pilot study," according to Lee Currey, director of Water and Science Administration for MDE, in an email to the Association late last week.

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For the entire article, see
https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0320/navy-asserts-drinking-water-is-safe-leaves-many-questions-unanswered.html

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel at cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org